Means for returning surplus balls in metal-heating furnaces



M. A. TURTLE.

MEANS FOR RETURNING SURPLUS BALLS IN METAL HEATING FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED NOVB4, 1919.

1,330,223 Patented Feb. 10, 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET M. A. TURTLE. MEANS FOR RETURNING SURPLUS BALLS IN METAL HEATING FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4. I919.

1 ,330,223 Patented Feb. 10, 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

MORTON A. TURTLE, or EAST onANeE, NEW iEnsEYf I V MEANS non RETURNING sunrnus Bruins IN METAL-HEATING rUnNAcEs.

Application filed November 4, 1919. Serial no. 3355005 To all whom it'mayconcem:

Be it known that I, MORTON A. TURTLE, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at 19 Dodd street, East Orange, county of Essex, and State of "New Jersey,

have invented certain new and usefulIm provemen'ts in Means for Returning Surplus I Balls in Metal-'He'ating Furnaces, fully described and represented in the following speclficatlon and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

The present invention relates to that class of furnaces havin'ga metal-heating chamber into which a carriage with the material to be 'heated is moved, being supported in its movement upon balls moving in floor-runways beneath the edges of the carriage.

The under side ofthe carriage is provided with grooves or run-ways adapted to rest upon the balls, and it is necessary to place balls upon the runways-in the direction to which the carriage is to be moved.

Such balls are successively engaged by the runways of the carriage as the carriage is moved toward them and they thus serve to support it in its forward movement; but if any excess of balls is arranged before the carriage it will not, engage all of such balls, and they are therefore merely pushed'in the direction that the carriage is moving and are thus l able to accumulate upon the runway at the inner end of the chamber.

Owing to the extreme heatwithin affurnace-chainber, it is difiicult to remove such surplus balls f-rom the inner end of the chamber; and the object of the present inventionisto "automatically return such surplus balls to the charging end of the furnace to a position'where they are acces sible to "be restored again to the runway,

This return is effected by forming a return channel extendin from the inner end ofthe chamber to the front or charging end of'tli'e furnace, and connecting the runways to such channel by a cross-track so that the surplus balls will be forced into the return channel when the carriage is movedwholly into the chamber.

The runway is sloped downwardly toward the front end of the furnace, and a .ballpit'ispreferably formed at its terminal into which the balls may be automatically delivered from the channel. The ball-pit Specification of Letters Patent.

' and with an outlet-ductF by means of a Patented Fe 10,1920.

is preferably formed: with an incline to: fa-

cilitate the drawing of the balls from' the pit when returning them to the runways.

By this construction, the balls left behind the carriage in its withdrawal from thew.

' with the improvements, the top of the charm her being omitted from the .view and-the return channel shown intermediate to. the

two runways; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal "section at the centerline of Fig.1; 'Fig.-'3-is a transverse section on line -'3 8 in-Fig. 2 looking toward the door of the furnace;

Fig. 4 is a plan like Fig. 1, but having the;

return channel extended outside of'the-furnace-ichamber from the rear tothe fronte'nd of the furnace; and Fig. his an enlarged elevation of the furnace viewed at the r ig'ht hand end of Fig.4. V

The invention isillustrated in a furnace having burner-openings A in f the" side-walls l3, outlet-fiues .6 being formed beneath the floor D of the-chamber and connectedwith theside of the "chamber by flue-passages" 1E,

damper G. A I a The furnace-chamber has a doorway 1 H at the frontend, and runways a are extended through the doorway alongthe floor of the furnace to the rear end of thePchamberH. I"

Two carriages bare shown sustained in tandem relation upon the runways ib'y balls e, and the runways are extended outside:

of the furnace-front sufliciently to accommodate the carriages outside of the. furnace-door, where they mayv receivethedesired charge. A 7

The return channel (l is shown formed in the floor of the chamber between the runways, and connected therewitlratj-the'rear or inner end by cross-t'racksle which. slope downwardly from eachof the;:runways toward the "return. channel, so that any balls pushedto the rear ends of therunways iwill automatically roll into :the saidjchannel.

The channel is exteridedt'o a'ballpi t f formed between the runways outside the furnace-door, and is sloped to such pit so that all the balls entering the inner end of the channel will automatically roll lnto the pit. 1

The outer end of the pit is formed wlth an'incline to facilitate the pulling of' the balls out of the pit by a hoe-shaped tool 9. 1 The balls may then be rolled upon the nullfloor into the runways, to be disposed in 'front'of the carriages upon their removal -i from the chamber.

The essential feature of the invention is -the provision of a downwardly inclined return channel connectlng the rear end of the furnace with the front end of the furnace so'as to restore the surplus balls to the x-front.

,It is immaterial where this return channel is located; and Fig. 4 illustrates the dis- ."position of the channel 65! at the outside of I the furnace-wall, and the runways extended through openings at to a cross-track e sloped downwardly to the rear end of the return channel at" which is carried outside 0f the furnace-chamber to the front end of i the furnace.

' ways at their rear end, and of the cross- Fig. 5shows-the inclination of the runtrack 6 and channel d.

7 Such return channel may be connected beneath the nearest runway with a ball-pit f between the runways, as shown in Fig. 4:, although the same convenience for retrieving the balls would be effected by connecting the return channel with a pit located at the'outer side of the nearest runway.

' 3 With this construction, the runways may "be made level upon the floor of the heatingchamber nearly to the rear end of the same, and sloped downward through the openings .05 which carries the balls'automatically to the cross-track e V Any accumulation of balls within the rear end ofthe chamber would obviously obstruct the movement of the carriage at that point, but the construction shown in both Figs. 1 and 4 permits the movement -I of the carriage to push any surplus balls of the runways extending through the open-' into the cross-track or into the inclined part ings a, and thus leave the runways clear forthe inward, movement of the carriage.

In Fig. 2, the balls supporting the carriage nearest the'rear end of the chamber are shown pushing surplus balls into the cross-track e, and the movement of such.

balls toward the head of the return channel isindicated by arrows 0. Where the return channel is in the bottom of the heatingchamber, it may be open throughout its lengthand a trap-door it applied to its outer endinthe ball-pinto prevent a current of cold air from entering the chamber.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention what is claimed herein is:

1. An annealing furnace of the class described, having runways extended from the front of the furnace into the heating-chamber, a channel adaptedto 'returnthe balls to the front of the furnace, and a crosstrack connecting the runways with the channel, thus securing an automatic return of the surplus balls to the front of the furnace.

2. An annealing furnace of the class described having runways extended from the front of the furnace upon the floor of the heating-chamber, a channel formed in'the floor of the chamber and sloped dOWll'. wardly toward the front of the furnace, and" a cross-track connecting the rear ends of the runways with the highest point of the channel to secure the automatic return of the balls to the front of the furnace.

3. An annealing furnace of the class 'described having runways extended from the front of the furnace into the heating chamber, balls-movable upon the runways and a carriage sustained 'uponthe balls, a channel adapted to return the balls to the front of the furnace and a cross-track connecting the runways with the channel, thus securing .an

5. An annealing furnace of the classdescribed having a plurality of runways extended into the heating-chamber, balls movable upon the runways and a carriage sustained upon the balls, a return channel sloped downward toward the front end of the chamber, and across-track at the rear of the furnace-chamber connecting the plurality of runways with the; return channel.

6 An annealing furnace:of the classdescribed hav ng a doorway at the front OfsthQ heating-chamber, a plurality of runways extended through the doorway into the heating-chamberfand extended also outside of the doorway, a ball-pit adjacent to such extensions of'the runways, a return channel extended from the rear of the furnace-chamber to the ball-pit, and sloped downwardly toward the same, and a cross-track connecting therunways with the said return channe scribed having a doorway atthe front of the heating-chamber, aplurality of runways-ex- 7. An annealing furnace of tho class de tended through the doorway into the heat- 7 ing-chamber, ball-pits at the front of the furnace, a return channel extended from the rear of the furnace-chamber to the ball-pit and sloped downwardly toward the same, a

= cross-track connecting the runways with the said return channel, a trap-door at the front of the return channel to normally close the same, and an inclined plane in one side of In testimon my hand.

y whereof I have hereunto set MORTON A. TURTLE. 

